Concept Development
Through A Glass Brightly
Contemporary Responses to “Palace and Mosque”
14 January – 17 April 2006
(Available for Tour)
Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust (SGMT) approached Alchemy to provide a creative framework and brief that would enable two contemporary artists with particular knowledge of Muslim cultures to respond to the V & A exhibition Palace & Mosque to be hosted by SGMT at the Millennium Galleries in 2006. The role that Middle Eastern countries, particularly Syria , Egypt and later Iran have played in the development of glassmaking traditions both technically and in artistic terms is a significant one. Palace and Mosque contains a number of glass objects whose form and luminosity imbue them with an almost fairytale quality. Glass seemed to be a natural point of focus for a commission.
The brief was intended to give the two artists as much flexibility and creative freedom as possible as well as the opportunity to push the boundaries of their artistic practice.
.Although glass was a focal point; the artist’s frame of reference was the entire exhibition – an extensive canvas. Alchemy researched and produced a short-list of artists from which Kalim Afzal and Farhad Ahrarnia were selected.
Kalim Afzal has an interest in various aspects of glass crafting in the Muslim world. Kalim’s own expertise as a glassmaker has been acknowledged by a number of public commissions.
Farhad Ahrarnia is an Iranian-born Sheffield based artist whose work is rapidly gaining national recognition. He has a particular interest in working with a wide range of crafts-based media such as ceramics and textiles as well as film and video. Farhad has a deep interest in the spiritual and mystical traditions of the Middle East as well as an alert understanding of the cultural dynamics within Sheffield .